Patrik Skantze

Patrik Skantze born 1971, self taught musician.
Patrik started playing guitarat age 13. He grew up with hard rock and the earliest influence was, which now may be rather surprising, Ace Frehley.

I felt a strong bond to Ace; you always get the feeling that he was an outsider. The underrated genius that wasn't allowed enough space, not unlike George Harrison. My earliest memory of music that makes a strong impact on me was written by Ace. It was the instrumental song "Fractured Mirror". From that on I went on to guitarists like Brian May and Ritchie Blackmore.

The biggest impressions that make Patrik go for the music was when he accidentally started to listen to symphonic rock. Bands like Yes and Mike Oldfield. Also minimalists like Philip Glass and Steve Reich and late romantic Jean Sibelius.

It was without a doubt a spiritual awakening, life before and after this period! A classmate of mine had stolen a box of records from a cellar storage in hope to find some hard rock records. Disappointed that it only contained "garbage", he gave it to me. I did know some of
the names vaguely but I haven't heard them. The bands and composers were just awesome. But to me it meant a lot more. For several years I had a longing to express myself in a new way. After a rather messy upbringing with very little cultural content I had a lack of references to what was possible. The feeling of homecoming was very
real and made me want to test and develop my own ability.

Patrik started playing guitar in different bands, all with a progressive angle. The goal was to break through as a new creative guitarist in a rock band. But after a few disappointing years he run out of steam and made the decision to develop his own music without any outside interference or compromises. A portastudio and some new
instruments were soon acquired.

The question has always been which direction I would take. At this time I listened a lot to Neil Young and Nick Drake. These two are the sole reason that I started singing.

1994/95 Patrik make enquiries to different studios with the goal of recording a long piece of instrumental music. He felt that his instrumental material became so limited with the portastudio. Recording in a real studio would do the music justice and make it easier for the record companies to understand. Patrik got connected with
Mikael Moberg, owner of MI-MO Sound Studios in Älvsjö, Stockholm. What originally was a single recording developed to a friendship and continuous collaboration. The debut "Music For My Ego's Sake" was released 1998 and was well received, both in Sweden and abroad. English magazine Wondrous Stories wrote… "This is an
outstanding symphonic release by multi-instrumentalist Patrik and features just two tracks. But both are epics in every meaning of the word... his guitar work is simply devastating, fluid, controlled and seething with passion! There are also certain classical influences that ensure this is a symphonic masterpiece. If Oldfields name was on this then sales would be huge and to think that I was enjoying Tubular Bells 3 until I heard this! Sorry but this is much better. Buy at all costs" (Terry Craven).

Now come the follow-up, "Fiction At First View", and Patrik is now surrounded by more musicians. In the band The Free Souls Society we find,
Patrik (lead & backing vocals, guitar, bass, piano & keyboards),
Christopher Korling (drums, congas),
Eva Björkner (lead & backing vocal, flute, piano)
Patrik Öhlin (Bass/Cello)

There is a clear difference from Skantze's debut album ("Music For My Ego's Sake) which was totally instrumental.This new release also shows Skantze's vocal abilities as well as his instrumental capacity. The combination of these two sides makes us believe that Patrik Skantze & The Free Souls Society is one unique band and the fact that Skantze is an artist with a new and personal style.